Palestinian PM asks UN Secretary-General to put Israel on children's 'list of shame'

The Palestinian prime minister has asked the UN chief to put Israel on a list of actors who breach the rights of children, after recent waves of deadly bombing raids on Gaza and other repression in the occupied West Bank.

Mohammad Shtayyeh made the plea at Monday's cabinet session, where he asked that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres put the "occupier state" onto the "list of shame", the Anadolu Agency reported.

This is an apparent reference to the UN chief's yearly list of children's rights abusers, which includes both governments and other groups.

Israel was not included on the list despite the devastating bombing campaign on Gaza last month, which killed dozens of children.

Shtayyeh asserted: "Israel has never stopped killing our children". He added that recently a boy of 16 was killed by Israeli forces last Thursday.

"Israel must be held accountable for its crimes," he said.

Nevertheless, the UN Secretary-General's list has been strongly criticised in some quarters.

The group Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict published a report by notable figures in children's rights which looked at the state of the list between 2010 and 2020.

They highlighted that Saudi Arabia's coalition was taken off the list for "killing and maiming" in 2020, even though they were deemed culpable for 222 cases involving a violation in this category against children the year prior.

Last month, a fatal Israeli bombing campaign against Gaza killed at minimum of 289 people in the Strip, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Among those who perished in the 11-day barrage were 66 children, according to figures from the Gaza-based Ministry of Health when 232 deaths had been recorded.

During the same period, as many as 51 schools were physically harmed by bombing. This affected 41,897 young people.

Despite a ceasefire going into effect on 21 May, the Israelis have since launched further attacks against Gaza.

Last week, Israeli forces on two days struck the besieged land strip as fire balloons designed to burn farmland and bushes were sent from Gaza.

On Monday, Shtayyeh also announced an independent committee to look into a botched vaccine deal with Israel.

This saw Israel provide "about to expire" jabs to the Palestinian Authority in an apparent contravention of the terms of their agreement.

The 90,000 Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines were sent back to Israel on Sunday.